Walk On: A Visit to Reining Strength Therapeutic Horsemanship

Yesterday, Silas, my mom and I had the immense pleasure of getting to visit a place called Reining Strength Therapeutic Horsemanship.  A dear friend of ours, Fran, volunteers for this incredible organization, and we heard through social media that one of their riders was collecting pet food for Meals on Wheels.  We took some pet food to donate and were fortunate enough to get a tour of their beautiful facility.  We got to meet their volunteer coordinator, Gigi, and some of their instructors.  The highlight, especially for Silas, was meeting the incredible animals that help the clients of Reining Strength recognize and realize their physical and emotional capabilities through equine assisted therapy.

At a time of year that is especially hard for our family, I am so thankful for the experience of getting to see, firsthand, the peace and sense of strength organizations like this one bring to individuals who have physical hardships as well as emotional struggles like anxiety and PTSD.  Just being around the horses yesterday for the short time that we were there left me with a sense of calm.  To look into the eyes of a 1500 lb animal that could easily crush me and have complete and utter trust made me think of how big and intimidating life can be to each of us.  As some of us deal with disease, injury, or sickness, we can be overcome by the limitations of our body.  Having gone through 8 miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy that ruptured last year, I can certainly attest to feeling as though my body is a hindrance to the desires of my heart and mind.  As some of us deal with debilitating anxiety, depression. or post traumatic stress from experiences in this life that are beyond our control, Life and our own emotions can seem insurmountable and even as though they have the ability to crush and smother us beneath their weight.


But as I walked around that arena yesterday, I heard the story of a rider who was non-verbal upon coming to Reining Strength, and by his fourth week of working with the horses had spoken his first words, "Walk on." By the same rider's fifth week, he had said the words, "I love you" to his mother.  I heard another story of a rider who was not able to walk due to physical limitations when she arrived at Reining Strength and is now walking on her own.  As I listened to these stories, I felt a knowing that although life's experiences might hinder us, that there is also ever-present support - both Earthly and Divine - to lift us up when we feel like we can't stand on our own two feet.


This message could not come at a better time for me.  As we enter the holiday season, a season that I know is especially difficult for many of us who have suffered loss, it is important that we keep the mindset that Life is not here to knock us down.  Although it can, the same way a 1500 lb horse could easily crush us, Life does not want to feel us crunch beneath its feet.  It wants us to gaze into a pair of gentle eyes, feel an enormous, but sweet, nuzzle into our neck, and run our hands through a soft mane to feel our minds and bodies calm.  Although it has the ability to stomp us to death, it also has the ability to lift us up, support us in ways that allow us to feel the breeze upon our face, speak the truth of Love that we were born to speak, and to stand on our own two feet and Walk On.


Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to the people of Reining Strength and and other organizations who help others see and realize their own strength and ability.  And thank you, most of all, to God's creatures who are examples, everyday, of the gift of silence and patience and of the power of simple presence with one another.